The Lee Family: Sofia's Valentine's Party

When it came time to make Sofia's Valentine's box, it was easy to guess that she would want a dragon box. The girl is obsessed by dragons! We spent some time searching Pinterest for some ideas and finally found a very cute dragon box that looked like it might not be too difficult to make. The dragon was made using foam sheets, so we pulled out all of our Valentines and foam sheet supplies to figure out what we had and what we needed. Late Saturday morning, we went to see Paddington 2 with Marco, Stacy, Antonio and Luca and then Sofia and I went to Hobby Lobby for our supplies. Once we were back at the house, we pulled up the image we had of the dragon box and got busy! Since we didn't have instructions, we had to design it as we went along. It's what makes creating and making valentine's boxes so much fun. Sofia really got into it and we started by making the legs first, since it was the easiest thing to make. We then made the body and ended with the tail. We forgot about the wings until the day before, when Sofia made them and glued them to the box, without burning herself!

Sofia filled out her valentine's cards the week before Valentine's and was very elaborate with her cards to each of her friends and classmates. She included a card that included a dragon, taped to another valentine that had a scratch off surface and included stickers and a dragon tattoo. Each card took her a long time, but she really enjoyed making each one. She could have made cards for everyone in Mr. Boykin's class too, but she said she didn't want to because there are a few boys in the class who aren't nice. Luckily, the kids in Ms. Hayes' class, especially the boys are super sweet and kind. Everyone in Sofia's class seem to get along very well.

On Valentine's morning, I also had Sofia fill out a heart for Ms. Hayes and added a $15 Starbucks card for her. I took pictures of her finished box and pictures of both girls with their boxes before we headed to school.

When I arrived at Glenhope after Olivia's party, all the 5th graders were in the library! Mr. Boykin was dressed up with a sparkly red hat, red mustache and bowtie and he called out numbers for bingo. He made it fun and interesting and had different kids call out the numbers too. As the kids made bingo, they got up and picked out a white bag that included an unknown reward. Inside there were bouncy balls, squashy toys and various things that kids seem to love. Sofia sat at a table with Liliana, Frankie, her buddy Liam as well as a few other girls I didn't recognize. Sofia and Liam have become good friends and she always comes home talking about Liam, Joey and a few other boys in her class. All the kids seemed to have fun and enjoyed it for about an hour, at which point they divided up by class and returned to their rooms. As they were leaving, I asked Sofia to stop so I could take a picture of her. While she was standing there, Liam came up to stand next to her so he could be in the picture. It was so sweet, since I know they are big buddies and play together at recess a lot. It turned out to be such a cute picture too.

Once the Sofia and her classmates were in their class, they sat at their tables for a few minutes and then Ms. Hayes told them they could get up and hand out their valentine's cards. I gave Sofia a hug and kiss and headed out before the classroom became total mayhem. Sofia was so excited to pass out her cards and so happy that I'd come. This is Sofia's last Valentine's party, since they don't have parties in middle school, so I was so happy I could be there and see how much fun she has and how much she enjoys the festivities. Even though she's in 5th grade and some of the kids her age are "too old" for valentine's day parties, I love that she enjoys it so much and has so much fun! I hope she always holds on to her joy of parties and celebrating life events.

The photo we found on Pinterest that we followed to make Sofia's Valentine's box